Dr. Jonny Bowden

Tag: tips

  • Tip 281: Increase Fat Burning During Exercise

    Tip 281: Increase Fat Burning During Exercise

    The following is a guest article by my good friend and colleague, Charles Poliquin.

    Tip 281: Increase Fat Burning During Exercise with Strategic Nutrition to Get Lean

    by Charles Poliquin

    Increase your rate of fat burning while strength training with optimal pre-workout nutrition to get lean. By eating the right nutrients before working out, you can increase work capacity, performance, and speed recovery from intense exercise. Many misconceptions exist about the best way to burn the most fat during exercise but a review in the British Journal of Nutrition provides a guide to get leaner and stronger.

    Proven strategies to boost fat burning with pre-workout nutrition include the following:

    1. Eat low-glycemic carbs with protein before training
    2. Avoid fructose and milk
    3. Load l-carnitine in the muscles
    4. Drink caffeinated green tea
    5. Take fish oil

    Pre-workout nutrition may influence the rate of fat burning when exercising by as much as 66 percent. Burning fat rather than carbohydrates during strength training is best because it can lead to the best body composition. If you’re doing endurance or high-intensity interval training, burning fat will increase your performance and time to exhaustion because increasing the use of fat for fuel spares glycogen (fuel source from carbohydrates).

    Eat low-glycemic carbs with protein at least an hour before training to maximize fat burning. Low-glycemic carbs include green vegetables, some fruits, and grains that have a glycemic-lowering nutrient added to them like rye bread with fenugreek. Low-glycemic carbs will produce a slow, gradual increase in blood sugar to support energy levels and fat burning because it will reduce pre-exercise muscle glycogen concentration and increase the availability of fat use for fuel. Basically, by eating this way, you’re telling your body what to burn and when to burn it to produce the most energy.

    Fructose is a sugar that is found in fruit and is everywhere in processed foods in the form of high-fructose corn syrup. Avoid it pre-workout. Limit fructose in your diet because it blunts fat burning but it also lowers the glycemic response of carbohydrates—just not in a favorable way for overall metabolism. Eating fructose actually inhibits fat burning during and after exercise to a greater extent than eating high-glycemic carbs with glucose like bread or cereal. Not only does fructose stop the use of fat for energy, it makes the cells more resistant to insulin, putting you at risk for diabetes. It also leads to higher blood lactate concentrations during exercise. Greater lactate production will impede performance and is counterproductive.

    Along with avoiding fructose, stay away from milk proteins because they are particularly “insulinotropic,” which means that they will cause persistently high insulin levels. This puts you at greater risk of insulin resistance and diabetes.

    On the flipside, regularly taking fish oil in your pre-workout meal will improve fat burning and insulin sensitivity. Fish oil improves gene activity that tells the body to use fat for energy within minutes of ingesting it. Fish oil also increases blood flow to fat tissue, which is considered a limiting factor in the use of fat for fuel during exercise. Basically, fish oil is a highly liquid and permeable fat and it helps everything to move more fluidly in the body (like a well-oiled machine).

    Together with the amino acid composite l-carnitine, fish oil increases the transport of fats into the cells to be used for energy in the body. By raising the level of muscle carnitine, you make the body more efficient at processing fuel so that it can burn more fat, spare glycogen, clear lactate and bump up anabolic hormone response. Ideally, you want to take carnitine regularly to “load” it into the muscles, but you can also take it with your pre-workout meal for best results.

    Carnitine availability is reduced when muscle glycogen content is elevated, making it all the more important to ensure you are moderating your glycemic load before training. Carnitine will boost performance for strength athletes, but it’s especially effective at increasing performance during endurance exercise. One study indicated a 55 percent reduction in muscle glycogen use after carnitine loading for six month. The glycogen sparing effect of burning more fat means endurance athletes will be able to “tap into” these glycogen stores at the later stages of a race or training run.

    Green tea with caffeine is an awesome addition to any athlete’s diet because the antioxidant content in the tea combined with the caffeine can increase fat burning by up to 15 percent. It has also been shown to elevate fat burning for 24 hours after ingestion. Caffeinated coffee can also boost performance and fat burning, but recent evidence suggests green tea may be better. Include caffeine from both sources for best results.

    References:

    Gonzalez, J., Stevenson, E. New Perspectives on Nutritional Interventions to Augment Lipid Utilization during Exercise. British Journal of Nutrition. 2012. 107, 339-349.

    Fernandez, J., Da Silva-Grigolettos, M. A Dose of Fructose Induces Oxidative Stress During Endurance and Strength Exercise. Journal of Sports Science. 2009. 27(12), 1323-1334.

    Charles Poliquin, M.Sc., is one of the top strength and conditioning experts in the world. He’s trained olympic medalists in 12 different sports and has written many books and over 500 columns. His site,  http://www.strengthsensei.com/charles-poliquin/, is a terrific resource for real, science-based information about physical fitness.

  • The Trouble With Vegetarian Diets

    The Trouble With Vegetarian Diets

    (The following is a guest article by my friend nutritionist Kaayla Daniel, slightly abridged from the original. Dr. Daniel is an outspoken critic of soy, the author of “The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food”, and is vice-president of the Weston A. Price Foundation.)

    An August 26 study in the journal Nutrition makes a strong case against plant-based diets for prevention of heart disease.

    The title alone  —  “Vegetarianism produces sub-clinical malnutrition, hyperhomocysteinemia and atherogenesis” — sounds a significant warning.   The article establishes  why subjects who eat mostly vegetarian diets develop cardiovascular disease unrelated to vitamin B status and Framingham criteria.

    The study took place in Chad, and involved 24 rural male subjects age 18 to 30, and 15 urban male controls, age 18-29.   (Women in this region of Chad could not be studied because of their animistic beliefs and proscriptions against collecting their urine.)

    The rural men were apparently healthy, physically active farmers with good lipid profiles.  Their staple foods included cassava, sweet potatoes, beans, millet and ground nuts.   Cassava leaves, cabbages and carrots provided good levels of carotenes, folates and pyridoxine (B6).

    The diet is plant-based there because of a shortage of grazing lands and livestock, but subjects occasionally consume  some B12-containing foods, mostly poultry and eggs, though very little dairy or meat.

    Their diet could be described as high carb, high fiber,  low in both protein and fat, and low in the sulfur containing amino acids.    In brief, the very diet recommended by many of today’s nutritional “experts” for overall good health and heart disease prevention.

    The urban controls were likewise healthy and ate a similar diet, but with beef, smoked fish and canned or powdered milk regularly on the menus.  Their diet was thus higher in protein, fat and the sulfur-containing amino acids though roughly equivalent in calories.

    Dr. Kilmer McCully’s research over the past 40 years on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis has shown the role of homocysteine in free radical damage and the protective effect of  vitamins B6, B12 and folate.   Indeed, many doctors today recommend taking this trio of B vitamins as an inexpensive heart disease “insurance policy.”

    Clearly it’s wise for people on plant-based diets to supplement their diets with B12, but protein malnutrition must also be addressed.

    And the issue is not just getting enough protein to eat, but the right kind.   We must eat  protein rich in bioavailable, sulfur-containing amino acids — and that means animal products.

    (Vegans at this point will surely claim the issue is insufficient protein and trot out soy as the solution.   Soy is indeed a  complete plant based protein, but notoriously low in methionine.  It does contain decent levels of cysteine, but the cysteine is bound up in protease inhibitors, making it largely  bioavailable. (For more information, read  my book The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food, endorsed by Dr. McCully, as well as our petition to the FDA noted above.)

    So what did  the researchers find among the study group of protein-deficient people?

    Higher levels of homocysteine, of course.  Also significant alterations in body composition,  lean body mass, body mass index and plasma transthyretin levels.  In plain English, the near-vegetarian subjects were thinner, with poorer muscle tone and showed subclinical signs of protein malnutrition.   (So much for popular ideas of extreme thinness being healthy. )

    The plant-based diet of the study group was low in all of the sulfur-containing amino acids.   As would be expected, lab work on these men showed lower plasma cysteine and glutathione levels compared to the controls.  Methionine levels, however,  tested comparably.   The explanation for this is  “adaptive response.”   In brief, mammals trying to function with insufficient sulfur-containing amino acids will do whatever is necessary to survive.   Given the essential role of methionine in metabolic processes, that means deregulating the transsufuration pathway, increasing homocysteine levels, and methylating homocysteine to make methionine.

    Ultimately, it all boils down to our need for sulfur.   As Stephanie Seneff, PhD, and many others have written in Wise Traditions and on this website, sulfur is vital for disease prevention and maintenance of good health.

    In terms of heart disease, Drs. Ingenbleek and McCully — authors of the present study—have shown sulfur deficiency not only leads to high homocysteine levels, but is the likeliest reason some clinical trials using B6, B12 and folate interventions have proved ineffective for the prevention of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.

    Over the past few years, headlines from such studies have led to widespread dismissal of Dr. McCully’s  “Homocysteine Theory of Heart Disease” and renewed media focus on cholesterol, c-reactive protein and other possible culprits that can be treated by statins and other profitable drugs.   In contrast, Drs. McCully and Ingenbleek research suggests we can better prevent heart disease with three inexpensive B vitamins and traditional diets rich in the sulfur-containing amino acids found in animal foods.

    In the blaze of publicity surrounding Forks Over Knives and other blasts of vegan propaganda, few people are likely to hear about this study.   That’s sad, for it provides an important missing piece in our knowledge of heart disease development, a strong argument against the plant-based fad, and a bright new chapter in what the New York Times has called “The Fall and Rise of Kilmer McCully.“

  • Dry Skin Nutrition

    Dry Skin Nutrition

    The following article comes to us courtesy of the great Jonathan Wright, MD, one of the icons of alternative and integrative medicine. Dr. Wright publishes a print newsletter, “Nutrition and Healing”.

    Guest article by Jonathan Wright, MD

    If there are enough essential faty acids in your blood, your skin will rarely be dry, unless you have one of the other health problems noted above. If your skin is dry, the rest of your body cells aren’t getting enough essential fatty acids either, which means you have a much higher risk of developing many other health problems over time.

    Dry, flaky skin is never caused by a deficiency of commercial skin crèmes. It is very frequently caused by a deficiency of essential fatty acids.

    That’s because essential fatty acids are a big component of the outer membrane that keeps water inside each cell, rather than allowing it to escape to the outside world, leaving dryness behind. Both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids are needed in sufficient quantities to maintain moist skin.

    Most individuals with dry skin won’t have it all in four to eight weeks if thy start eating enough fish (salmon size or smaller to minimize mercury exposure) and—at the beginning, especially—taking either 1 tablespoon of fish oil daily, or (no kidding) 5 of the 1,000 milligram fish oil capsules there times daily, along with vitamin E as “mixed topcopherols” 400 IU twice daily.

    (If 5 capsules three times a day seems a bit much, it’s OK to use 3 capsules, three times a day. It’ll take a little longer to work, though.) the fish and fish oil are of course sources of omega-3 fatty acids. (No, this doesn’t go on forever, just to start!)

    There is much more omega-6 fatty acid in what we eat every day, so less of this supplement is needed. To start, however, take one 300-mg capsule of GLA (gamma linolenic acid) twice daily, until the skin is no longer dry.

    At that time, both the extra fish oil and GLA can be gradually reduced. If the dry skin starts to return, increase again. Everyone finds their own “balance point” of how much fish, fish oil, and GLA is necessary to maintain moisturization from the inside out.

    Other Hidden Causes of Dry Skin

    Although this works for most of us, dry skin can also be due to an undiagnosed thyroid weakness or a hidden non-celiac gluten sensitivity. Weak thyroid prevents the essential fatty acids from being used properly, and hidden non-celiac gluten sensitivity prevents the essential fatty acids (and other fat-soluble vitamins, such as A, D, E, and K) from being absorbed from the intestines, so they can’t get to the skin adequately.

    Rarely, there’s a problem with processing essential fatty acids that can be corrected with 5-10 milligrams of biotin (also called vitamin H), available in all natural food stores.

    (If you suspect any of these three problems, check with a physician skilled and knowledgeable in nutritional and natural medicine. You can find one on-line at The American College for Advancement in Medicine website.)

    One such risk is accelerated cognitive decline over time, as brain cell membranes must have enough omega-3 fatty acids for optimal function. There are many other risks of suboptimal essential fatty acid nutrition, too.

    Remember; dry skin is never caused by a deficiency of commercial skin crèmes.

    Dr. Jonny Comments:

    I absolutely agree with Dr. Wright, and his recommendations for omega-3 supplementation are spot on.

    However that said, once you’ve taken care of dry skin nutrition, it doesn’t hurt to protect it, moisturize it and smooth it with the finest, organic, non-animal tested skin care products.

    The DaVita line we carry has been carefully chosen for its fair price, stunning ingredients, and careful attention to formulation. In combination with proper diet and supplementation, these products offer one of the best and most affordable external skin care on the market.